Quondam
by ichigo-no-danna
Summary: Meh, I suck at Summaries! Just go and read it yourselfs!
1. Chapter 1

**Quondam**

-- Ch.1

The dark skinned girl shifted her weight one from another. She felt the water sway to her toes. Her shoulder length hair breezed wildly in the mild wind. Her dark brown eyes reflected in the suns light.

She took one step forward as the water began to rise to her ankles. When the silence broke, a girl with long straight black hair stepped from behind some trees.

"Claude, you ready?" the girl asked. Claudia turned around and faced the Japanese girl with a small smirk.

"I guess," she said. When she barely walked to her friend she felt her feet step on something sharp. She moaned in pain, but ignored it and kept walking.

"You okay, Claude?" asked Emma, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Never better," she replied with an easy smile. Emma's eyebrow cocked and shook her head, disagreeing.

"You know," started Emma as they begin to walk on a trail that led up to a hill. "Minnesota was the only place I could find to live for a while. When I first moved up to here, you were my first friend. I remembered you, that small little girl that almost reminds me of a boy."

"Hey don't get me started. That's not my fault of having boy hair," she pouted crossing her arms across her chest. Blush appeared on her face. "Besides… I was quite the stupid one." This made Emma laugh.

Claudia also laughed as Emma faced her. "You are sure the smart one, Claude. I'm so glad we're friends." Those words made Claudia feel weird. She turned back walking the trail.

Emma quickly followed her from behind. "What's wrong? Was it something I said?" Emma asked grabbing her friends arm feeling guilty already. No reply came from the dark girl.

The sun was shooting through Claudia's body, feeling all sorts of weariness go through her nerves and muscles. She stared at the ground thoughtfully.

"…..yes," she replied to Emma's question. "When you said that, that made me feel weird." Emma gave her a confused look.

"How was that weird, Claude? We've been best friends for eleven years, and you still won't talk to me?!" she explained her voice getting louder. Claudia's eyes felt watery, and her nose felt burning with sorrow.

A small tear crept from her eye. "I'm so sorry, Emma," she sobbed.

"So that's it?! Just an 'I'm Sorry?!' You should be apologizing more than that, Claude! You have to tell me everything or else or friendship will die! Die the way our families did! Your lucky that were alive or else I wouldn't have anyone else! I'm--"

BANG!

Emma's face turned pale white, her eyes stiffened, and so did her body. "--I-I'm sorry, Claude," she grunted and collapsed next to Claudia.

Claudia's eyes were now full with tears. Her mouth hung down in fear. Out came a man with long black hair that was tied up in a pony tail. He had cold dark blue eyes. Eyes that meant to kill anything that was in his way.

Claudia fell on her knees, feeling useless already. She ruffled her fingers in her now-dead friend's hair. Her skin was cold and stiff. The man gave a smirk as he threw the cigarette that he had in his mouth, and stomped on it.

"Why?" asked Claudia. He grinned at her and walked next to her, crouching down and played with her hair.

"What's wrong, Chrissie? There's no more hope left in you?" he chuckled as he placed his big hand to her cheek.

Her body remained frozen, feeling the evil man's breath go in her face. "Why?" she asked again.

He shook his head. "Times almost up, Chrissie. So you better be finding hope soon, or else you'll see 'Death' everywhere you go." He stood up and walked away.

She started to shiver as she placed her friend into her lap. Her face was cold, and the bullet went right through her. She was bleeding rapidly, staining the dark skinned girl's clothing. A small wail came from Claudia, and then her voice got louder and began to cry.

End of Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

--Ch.2

Three days had passed as Claudia stood in front of her friend's grave. Next to her was a bouquet of roses. Claudia felt the wind pick up and brushing her face.

"_I-I'm Sorry, Claude"_

Those were the last three words. Claudia stood up and began to walk forward to some dark and old trees. She walked to the grave that was in the center of the old trees. The roses that she had in her hand were already withering away. She set them down in front of the grave that said, '_Kumi Jin 1922-2002'. _

She gave a small smile as she stood back up and walked back to the graves and was headed out to leave the cemetery.

When she was walking, she heard big steps that scurried around her, and before she knew it, pair of hands was tightened around her mouth. Her neck couldn't move at all.

"If you want to keep your life, you better tell me how to get medication from somewhere, or I'll take the blaming on you!" the raspy voice threatened. Tears formed around Claudia's eyes.

"Tell me!" The man tightened his grip on her mouth, not allowing her to breath. Instead, she muffled some noises as he let go.

"What do you want again?" she asked, her voice shaking in fear. The stranger's breath began to shorten. He then whispered close to her ear,

"Medication." She then felt his body weight force her down. Then, he collapsed next to her hearing squeaking noises shift around his body. She took a step back and examined the weakened man. He was a blonde, with dirt in his hair. She also noticed that he looked much younger than she expected.

She stopped thoughtfully, and decided to help the man. She picked him up by the arm and placed his arm around her shoulder. His head hang low, and his face was pale white, and lifeless.

She started walking slowly on a trail that leads her house. The wind was picking up faster and rapidly, the clouds darkening.

"Are you helping me?" asked the man, his voice sounding raspy. She didn't answer and concentrated on following the trail to her house. "Well?"

"Yes," she replied abruptly. A small smirk curved through his mouth.

"Thanks." There was the same weird feeling she had. What was the tension that made her feel weird. Were people being too nice? Is she not a good friend? Questions raced through her mind loosing focus.

Finally, she saw a small green and white house that was near the city. A few more steps and she would make it. She was finally in front of her home and unlocks the door with her key, and the sound of a CLICK meant it was unlocked.

She opened the door, and dashed to the couch, laying the weakened man there. She slammed the door, and locked about three locks. She turned around and stared at the man, who had a hand over his forehead.

She grabbed a first-aid kit, and took out a few bandages. She walked toward him and saw his face peacefully sleeping. The sight of him almost made her feel empathy for him already. She took out his pony tail and let his hair flow down freely.

For a guy like him, his hair was longer then hers. She saw his gloves that he had on were ripped. She carefully got his jacket off and sat it into her lap. She unbuttoned his vest, then his shirt. Bruises were filled across his chest, and yellowish substances on his wounds.

And even his hair had an odor that was salty and smelled like water. Did he fell into a lake or something? She thought.

She then saw his eyes flutter a little, and his breathes calmly breathing to its right rate.

"What's your name?" he asked, when he barely woke up. She placed a wet rag on his forehead, cautiously thinking if she should tell her name or not.

"Why?" she asked placing a bandage on his nose.

"Please, just tell me," he begged grabbing her wrist, before she moved away from him.

She paused for a while, and gave a big sigh. "Claudia. Can I ask for your name too?" she said eyeing him.

"Edward. Nice to meet you, Claudia." She felt a small blush go across her face. He gave a slight chuckle, shaking his head. "You're not much of a people's person, are you?"

"This is my first time helping and having a person in my house. I didn't want to help, but my mind was stating I should." She explained with a small shiver through her body. She gave a weak smile. "Besides, I should be nice sometimes."

She stood up and pointed to a door. He sat up and gave a confused look.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow in confusion.

"Go take a shower, but be careful with your wounds, or they're going to get infected." He tried to stand up, but to no avail. "Oh, yeah. I forgot." She stood next to his side, with one arm around her shoulder, and the other around his waist.

When she reached the door, she opened it, and flicked the light on. There was a bath tub, and a small stool. She left him near the toilet and went to the bath tub, and turned on the bath. Steamy hot water came out from the faucet, calming her face.

She let the water on until it got full. She stood up straight and faced him.

"When your finished taking a bath, tell me when you start using soap and shampoo. I need to do for you." Edward blushed giving her a look of berserk. She shrugged. "It's the only way for me to treat your wounds." With no arguing, she left.

With that, he stripped off his clothing, and placed it on a towel rail. He set his body, in the hot water, and felt his dirt cleanse his body fully. He sighed feeling the warm water soothe his cold skin.

He dunk his head under the water, and saw bits of small little organisms crawl out of his head. His eyes widened to see them die slowly. He gulped his vomit and shuddered. "Disgusting little things."

He slouches his back and stuck his metal right leg out of the tub and saw a few screws missing. His lifted his left metal hand and saw more screws missing than his right leg. He sighed.

"That's great. Now I got to ask Claudia to see if she can buy the right screws I need," he said as he placed his arm and leg back in.

When a few minutes passed, he got out to see Claudia at a desk in a dark corner, with her head curled into her arm. He held his towel to his waist and walked to the dark skinned girl.

She had a pen in her hand and some pieces of paper. He grabbed the piece of paper and saw a list of numbers, decimals, and percentages. Then a word TOTAL was written, and saw the numbers $132.00. A small note was also written which said $132 per month, bouquet and flowers. She must be a florist; he thought which was clearly obvious since she has pictures of flowers hanging from her walls.

Edward placed his flesh hand on her shoulder, and shook it lightly. She didn't flinch at all and continue to drift off to sleep. Instead, he grabbed a quilt that was on a couch, and placed it around her.

He went back to the bathroom to change. He came back and sat on the couch and saw a T.V that was next to him. He turned his body, so that he can face the T.V and picked up a remote and turned it on.

It showed some man talking to a girl who was in tears. The logo on the bottom right said Dr.Phil. Edward stared quizzically at the talk show.

"_And how does that make you feel?_" asked the man, who was clearly Dr. Phil. Edward scoffed and flipped to another channel. It was mainly about jewelry with some ladies talking about how rare or valued the jewelry was.

His sight caught a view on a ruby red emerald that was a necklace. Its price was very expensive as he shook his head in an irritated way. Before he went madder about the jewelry's prices, he turned off the T.V. and lay down with his arms managing his head.

He felt a sharp pain across his arms, but tried to endure it. He thought about how the waves shook him before he ended up in Minnesota. He could still hear a scream calling out his name, and then the screaming died out. Ed was separated and deserted now.

Edward closed his eyes trying to forget his tragedy. Instead, sleep took him through the night leaving everything calm and quiet.

End of Chapter


	3. Chapter 3

--Ch.3

Finally morning came and awoken its earths atmosphere. Claudia was running with her grip in Edward's hand. She panted as she tightened Edward's metal grip. She finally stopped waiting to cross the street. When the traffic lights turned red, she made a run for it and continued to run.

"Slow down! Your gonna' fall!" exclaimed Edward, as she ignored him and screeched to a halt in front of a Flower shop and entered it breathlessly. The manager faced her and shook her head.

Claudia managed to get her breath and talked in one breath. "I'msosorrymanager.I'lltrytobemorepunctualnexttime!" Then, she started to pant again.

"For god sake, Claude! Take deep breathes and slow down!" Yelled her manager, Alice. Claude took a seat as Edward took a step next to her. Alice eyed Edward whose eyes met with Alice. She winked and gave a smirk at him as he blushed and quickly looked away.

"So," Alice started walking next to Claudia. "Who's your friend?" Claudia looked up at her as Alice's smirk couldn't disappear from her face.

"On no." mumbled Claudia. 'Her liking is about high to her level.' Claudia smirked a guilty smirk. "Alice this is Edward. Edward this is my manager, Alice. She runs the shop." Edward gave a slight nod to Alice as she nodded as well.

"Well, I'll see you later, Claude." With that, Alice had left threw two doors in the back. Claudia gasped air and stood up.

"I'm so relieved," she said. She grabbed an apron, and placed it on, tying a knot on the back. She faced Edward and whispered lightly, "Don't fall for that woman's eyes. I could already see she has taking a liking to you."

Edward nodded. "I know. I could tell easily by her eyes. It's says it all." Then, the door had opened as a lady with brown long hair, and a girl with blonde short hair. Claudia quickly ran to the cash register and placed a smile on her face.

"Welcome!" she greeted. The mother and the girl smiled at her and walked around the shop. Edward walked around as well, ignoring the customers. He saw a group of blue and purple orchids.

"Excuse me young man," said a voice behind him. He turned to see the lady wanting to see the orchid as well.

"Oh sorry about that. Go right ahead," he apologized taking a step to the side. The small blonde girl stared at him with a slight blush. Edward gave a small smile as the mother took her hand and headed to the cash register.

The sound of a ding was heard from the cash register and the sound of money as well. "Come again!" said Claudia.

Before the customers left, the small girl stepped in front of Edward and handed him an orchid. His mouth opened slightly as he blushed.

"Here you go!" exclaimed the small girl. Ed took the flower and smiled kindly at the little girl.

"Thank you!" The little girl headed toward her mother and waved a good-bye to Ed and left the shop. Edward's face felt love-struck for some reason. The smile on his face couldn't go away.

"Looks like someone's lovesick." Ed turned around as Claudia had a smile on her face. She placed her hand to her mouth and chuckled lightly. "It was really nice of her though. I wish I was her," said Claudia.

--

Near some woods were some old and dead pine trees. Each one of them had a hole threw them, which represented gun shells. Then, there was a dark shed and inside of it, sat a man with dark brown hair, and cold dark blue eyes. In his hands was his prize possession. This was a rifle. He was cleaning it with a rag and made sure he got every detail of the pistol.

Another person leaned on a wall with a small smirk across his face shaking his head. It seemed that the dark person, John, had seen his wife-to-be found a person and was taking care of the person. The face expression you could tell from him was that he was getting ticked off by the second when she thinks of that person and wife-to-be.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! So your just going to laze around and let that short stuff take your girl?" asked another cold guy, named Rota.

"Shut it!" barked John as Rota just continues to smirk. "Besides, I'm going to use the short stuff as bait. That's the last hope Chrissies ever going to need," he declared placing his rifle beside him.

Rota raised an eyebrow. "And how are you going to do that?" A silence took the moment and then John gave a mischievous smirk rubbing his big hands to together.

"Just wait and see," chuckled John an evil glint appearing in his eyes.

End of Chapter


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